November 2008

November 29, 2008

What
would a long weekend be without the addition of some new digital tool?
I'm sure all of you are asking yourselves that question, and I'm here
out of the goodness of my heart to answer it for you. Well, and also
that I haven't really been spending enough time with my computer lately.

I
realize as I write this that there is a whole cache of people out there
for whom Twitter is old news. This post is not for you and you can go
back to putting gravy on leftover stuffing. For those of you who don't
know what Twitter is, or, who have never really known anyone who has
used it and would like to, read on.

If you know me,
or have read my blog for long, you know that life for me right now is
all about trying to manage the great trinity: work, family, ministry.
Part of the reason I'm so interested in technology is that, most of the
time, it allows me to do exactly that. And also that it's kewl.

The catalyst for this particular acquisition of social media is, irony of ironies, a conference on ministry in Sudan that I
will be attending for the next three days. I want to be able to post
regular, short updates to my blog and Facebook profile for my family
and for people who might be interested in ministry in Sudan. I could
also end up using it for a work event soon. Work, family, ministry: the golden trifecta. How could I say no? So now I have Twitter and I
can "tweet". Yes. That's what they really call it. Tweeting. I'm not
sure I even know anybody who is willing to be friends with someone who
tweets, but I'll take the chance.

This is how it works. You sign up, get a home page, click your mouse a couple of times and voila - everything you text from your cell phone to Twitter ends up exactly where you tell it to go. If only I could get my teenager to do the same thing. You also get to find out who in your address book is already tweeting. When I did this for Facebook awhile back, I got a ton of names. With Twitter...six. As old hat as Twitter might be to some of you - in my crowd, I'm an early adopter.

Another thing people do is "follow" each other. One person of my six has way more who follow him than he
follows, which makes me wonder, is this the new sign of popularity? And even if it is, wouldn't it creep you
out to know a whole bunch of people wanted to know exactly how you
spend your day? I've decided not to think about that.

The fact is, that I'm probably not ever going to be one of those
people who are heavily followed. I'm keenly interested in topics that
most other people find BORING - web analytics, theology, old movies. I get that. In
fact, I own it. As soon as I can figure out which pejorative for boring
I want to adopt as a badge of honor, I'll do it.

The real issue here, and the reason I didn't start tweeting earlier, is that Twitter is a sledgehammer to the last remnants of the walls that used to separate my various lives. LinkedIn was for my professional presence and Facebook for my personal life. My blog didn't talk about anything personal. Now a lot of people I work with are my friends on Facebook. When that started to happen, I had to decide whether or not to go back and sanitize my Facebook profile. I decided not to. My family is there, my close friends are there, my acquaintances are there - along with former teachers, classmates and students. I have friends who are my friends for no other reason than that we are passionately interested in the same cause. Nothing wrong with that when you think about it, yes?

So this is the new transparent me. I am who I am.

Maybe
its for the best. The first surge of Gen Y has been chipping at those walls for awhile. Eventually they will crumble because this generation brings a whole new set of values to the workplace. And who's to say they're wrong? We all bring our whole human selves to work and our
work is part of who we are the rest of the week. I don't suddenly lose my humanity and become a "skill set" when I walk through the door of
my office each day, although I'm sure there are some who would say that's how it
should be. But that's just not realistic. I'm still a person...just a person
with a job to do.

When I did an email search for people on Facebook, I found someone I
knew using a completely different name and with no friends at all. Why
would anyone do that? Go back to your fax machine. And then there is the whole issue of what to do with fractured relationships on Facebook, but I'm not going to go there today. Social media is messy. And I've decided to climb in the sandbox.

It looks like Twitter will be part of that
- at least for awhile. If my family members and close friends want to
know what I'm doing throughout the day, they can.
So can complete strangers if they read my blog.

And if you are at all interested in what people who care about Sudan get together to talk about when they get together, check back over the next few days and you can find out. If you're bored, don't say I didn't warn you and DON'T ask me for book recommendations.

November 23, 2008

I frequently hear from people who want to know how I get everything done.

The conversation usually goes like this:

I want to know how you get everything done.No you don't.Yes I do.What?Want to know how to get more done.No you don't.Yes I do.Why?I don't know anymore. Forget I asked.

Another successful end to what might otherwise have been a productive conversation, if I let it. But I refuse. Why? Because conversations about getting things done are BORING. And I don't want to have productive conversations with my friends. I want intimate conversations and the sharing of ideas.

However, in the spirit of flexibility and compromise and because I happen to be full of general holiday goodwill, I will share my time-tested methods for getting from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day without hiding an extra bottle of cooking sherry in the bathroom cabinet.

1. Don't travel. With skype, webcams, youtube, facebook and twitter; who needs to visit in person anymore anyway? Or...invite your relatives to come spend the holidays with you. Disclaimer: I live in Wisconsin and can invite my relatives here during the winter until my lips turn blue and know they will never show up. If you live in Florida, you will need a different strategy.

2. Don't read. Takes too much time. Besides the technology for getting ideas effortlessly into your head has to be just around the corner. Wait for it.

3. Don't decorate. Celebrate your individuality by being the only house on the block to go dark for Christmas. Say it's to save the environment. Or the children. Or abandoned animals. If none of that works and you can't handle the pressure, hire someone to do it for you.

4. Don't clean. This is actually quite a bit more brilliant than it appears on the surface. If you don't clean, you won't be tempted to invite people over who think that houses should be always clean. Which means you will only be spending time with people who are comfortable brushing the cat hair off of their own chair and don't expect you to do it for them. You, of course, will return the favor when you visit them and everyone will be happy.

5. Don't cook. Unless you like to. I love to cook but, frankly, most people don't get that about me. It's like saying I love to go to the dentist. Some people love to bake, which I don't get. So they should do that. And I should cook. And everyone else should know by now that anything that can be made at home can just as easily be bought ready-to-eat somewhere. It will taste great and look just as nice on your grandmother's platter as if you'd made it yourself.

6. Don't listen to people like me. What do I know anyway? I'm probably just a little bit cranky because we are expecting our first snowfall tonight and I didn't get half the things on my list done this weekend. Besides I'm a hypocrite. I'm planning to travel for three days next week to a conference on Sudan, miss my family a bunch and would travel to visit them in a second, am reading the best book ever (see right column), would love to find the perfect noble fir, and can't decide how I want to cook the yams this year.

If you do decide to take my advice, don't try any of the above without first consulting your physician. It will get you into the spirit of the holidays knowing that you are contributing to his or her January beach vacation in Cancun.

November 16, 2008

Unlike most people, I like buzz phrases. They're entertaining. And I happen to be very easily amused.

I work a lot in Christian ministry, where we always seem to get the buzzwords several years after everyone else, so if I sound a bit out-of-date, it's because I am. Not too long ago, everyone was heavy into scalable which simply means "able to accommodate growth." But as I discovered recently, if you are writing an RFP for anything software-related, it's not enough to say that you want the system to be able to grow with you. You must say that you want it to be scalable. Go figure.

The phrase that has me peering into the dark corners of the internet tonight is capacity building - or if you prefer - building capacity. The term has been defined as "actions that improve non-profit effectiveness." Turns out, it's been around and in common use for about a decade -- which explains why I'm just hearing about it now. It's serving those who serve, which has been my role for the last few years. And for those of us who prefer to work as a supporting cast member, it's a buzzword we can embrace.

It's also very personal because capacity building doesn't only apply to organizations, it applies to individuals. And when I think about it that way, I realize that if I'm ever going to be an effective organizational capacity builder, I have to first become an effective individual capacity builder. I have to create margin in my own life where ministry can happen. It's one of the most difficult things I try to do and not a day goes by that I don't question whether I'm making the best choices.

For me, not being involved in ministry is not an option. Everyone who is in Christ is called to ministry. In addition, I have a family and a full-time job - neither of which I can or would to abandon. I have the same 24 hours per day as everyone else. Each one of the three - family, job, ministry - could conceivably consume all of my time if I let it. How do I build individual capacity in these circumstances?

Right now I have only thoughts, not proven techniques. Proven techniques are the playthings of those with academic tenure.

First, I must accept that I will do other things with my "free" time than most. My parent's generation describes this part of Christian life as sacrifice. It's not a word my generation is comfortable with, but it comes pretty darn close to describing the circumstances accurately. Accepting this fact creates capacity by freeing up time that I might otherwise be spending in normal American leisure activity (NOT that there's anything wrong with that).

Second, I need to ask for help when I need it. Organizations accomplish this by bringing in consultants. I'm not good at asking for help and so I don't have a lot to say on the topic right now. I'll work on it. Check back with me in a year and I'll let you know how it's going.

Third, I can't ignore my infrastructure or support systems. These include relationships and good health practices such as getting enough exercise and sleep.

Fourth, I may need to re-evaluate either my strategic direction or the allocation of my own personal resources. Organizations require assistance in building capacity because they find themselves at a point of critical growth or change. Could that be me too? Sure it could. Individuals come to points of critical change and growth all the time. As with organizations, the hard part is knowing what changes to make and having the courage to make them.

I was encouraged in my reading to discover that Marketing or External Communication Strategies officially fall under the umbrella of capacity building. I've always known that inside. I was on a team this year that spent two weeks on a school building project in Sudan. Why couldn't there also be two week Marketing Communications teams working on projects for smaller ministries who have reached that point of critical growth and are ready to systematically and strategically take their message to the people who would be most likely to support it? I can think of many ministries right now who have a great need for that kind of capacity building. It's not how we normally think of short-term missions, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't begin to change that mindset.

November 09, 2008

Everyone is supposed to have a mentor these days. It's the new college degree.

And if one mentor is good, two or three should be that much better. Like having a triple major in...say...Business and Theology and Psychology. Which of course makes me wonder if were headed toward Ivy League mentors for some, and mentor-by-mail-programs-from-small-Caribbean-islands for others who have neither the time, the money, nor the contacts for top tier mentors. But maybe that's just me.

Furthermore, it is also now accepted protocol for the mentee (I don't know if this is an actual word or not, but if it isn't, it should be and so I'm going to use it) to seek out a suitable mentor and ask for their time and attention. Isn't that a little bit like the woman popping the question? Wait a minute. No problem there either. So I guess I just need to get with the program.

My real issue is not with the etiquette. It's that it creates one more line item on an already bloated to-do list. Every time I read an article or blog post about mentors, I think, "Who has time for this?" In fact, the only reason I'm reading the article or the blog post in the first place is that I'm surfing the net when I should be doing the laundry. If I did have a mentor, the first thing he or she would tell me would be to get off the computer and prioritize my work. Am I right?

So in my inbox today came something from Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Life fame. He says, "You
don’t have to limit asking questions to just a single mentor who you meet with
on a regular basis. You can meet a mentor anywhere. My suggestion is to keep a
3x5 card with you that has a list of standard questions you can ask whenever
you meet someone you can learn from; you then pull out your card and ask
questions like:

How do you handle stress?

What have been the greatest successes in your life?

What do you think contributed to that success?

What did you learn from the greatest failure of your life?

What would you do differently if you could start over?

What kind of books do you read?

How do you manage your time?

How do you manage your money?

What have been the greatest lessons you’ve learned?

What have been the greatest surprises in your life?"

Wow. Mentor-lite. See the thing is - these are great questions and I can immediately think of several people whose answers I know would be useful to me. But, I already have issues with the asking and giving of Too-Much-Information and several topics on which I could converse forever. Books and stress most definitely in the top ten.

Can you imagine? I'm with a potential mentor only I don't realize it's a potential mentor until we've been talking for awhile. Eventually it dawns on me. And, after 30 minutes of Congo and Sudan and Mission and Web Tracking and Search Engine Optimization and Facebook as a Marketing Tool, I pull out my 3x5 card and say, "Tell me. How do you handle stress?" Whatever the preferred method might happen to be, I would never get to hear about it because the individual would have taken off to engage in it right at that moment.

Therefore, I guess if I'm ever going to have a mentor it's going to have to be when someone else notices my lack, walks up to me and says, "Excuse me my dear, but you look like you need a mentor." At which point, I will pull out my handy 3x5 card and ask, "What kind of books do you read?" and see what happens.

November 02, 2008

If you asked me to describe the best part, I couldn't tell you, but I can tell you that I love reconnecting with old friends and meeting new people and hearing all of their stories. Each year I've been involved in a different way. Some years all I've done is attend; others, I've created the marketing communications plan. This year I'm representing the Sudan Focus Group and handling their communications.

I love Sudan. I know that sounds nuts. But I love it and I love to talk about my experience there.

I also love everything digital. A nice thing because that is my job. I love web development, search engine optimization, content development, analytics, social media, new apps - the whole enchilada.

I can talk about both Sudan and web stuff forever. Trust me when I say that I'm in the minority. I've learned this the hard way. I can even bore my boss - which is quite an accomplishment. There aren't too many people who can make their supervisors not want to talk about work.

So. I get to church this morning to find out that our table is right next to the table for Overseas Council, the Keynote Speaker's organization. And I notice first of all, that they have all this really great branded material. The entire table is very professional and I can find exactly what I need with a quick once-over. That almost never happens with Christian ministry. I'm impressed enough to start of a conversation with their VP of Advancement.

What happens next feels almost like a miracle to me. It turns out that he and I think all the same things are fascinating. So we get into this animated conversation, which is a triple treat for me because it's Mission and Sudan, it's all things web and marketing and he's not bored. I realize as I'm talking that my enthusiasm is evident, but still think I'm retaining some small sense of decorum when he pauses for a sec and says, "You know. Talking to you is just like talking to an Alka Seltzer."

Ooooh - kay. okay. What do I do with that? First of all, it's a great line and very entertaining. How often do you have a great line like that handed to you on a silver platter. And being a good marketing person, I've decided to do what any good marketing person would do...make it part of my personal brand.

"onlygeorgia...just like talking to an alka seltzer"

The only unpleasant thing is that everyone I've told about it so far totally gets why he would say that. Maybe I should start holding more conversations about sports.